Sunday, November 29, 2015
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November is a month for study of Raja Yoga, a spiritual path of self-control, meditation, samadhi, and liberation.
Regarding yoga, Sri Ramakrishna said, “The mind must withdraw totally from all objects of form, taste, smell, touch, and sound. Only thus does it become pure. The Pure Mind is the same as the Pure Ātman.”
Pure mind and non-dual mind are identical. Yet, immersed in ignorance and sense entanglements, our ordinary minds seem far from purity, from that non-dual Reality that is said to be our birthright and the core of our being.
Br. Shankara reads and comments on selections from Swami Yogeshananda’s book Waking Up, and Swami Vivekananda’s letter To A Friend. Writing from what seem to be entirely different perspectives, the two swamis come to very similar conclusions about why and how we “hide” from our non-dual consciousness.
The swamis’ unavoidably accurate observations, and their prescriptions for how to dispel our spiritual ignorance, are the subjects of this discussion.